Whether you agree with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that failure to pass five of the six propositions on today’s ballot will plunge the state into an economic abyss, or you want to send the dysfunctional Legislature a strong message about overtaxation, you should get off your duff and vote today.

We say that because we’d like to see voters turn out in multiples of the projected 25 percent.

And here’s why:

Voters who stay away from the polls allow a tiny minority of voters who do turn out to decide who will represent them in Sacramento, Washington and locally. They allow that tiny minority to decide whether taxes of all kinds should be raised. They allow the Legislature to take money away from schools and highway projects to pay for measures that a minority of voters approved – measures that are partly responsible for hamstringing legislators from living within a budget. Every time that tiny minority of voters approves a bond, your grandchildren will be saddled with repaying it. Every time those few voters elect tax-and-

spend or obstructionist legislators, we all suffer.

Some have portrayed the projected defeat of the propositions today as an act of vengeance. Legislators who care more about their next election than about their constituents’ financial security surely deserve voters’ ire. But put vengeance aside and look at the real issues: extending increases in sales tax and vehicle license fees until 2013 takes money out of your pocket. Which means people will have to watch their spending in other areas. That means businesses will suffer at a time when they need all the stimulus, in the form of consumer spending, they can get. And that means fewer jobs.

Don’t let that tiny minority of voters who – God bless them – take their rights seriously be the only ones to decide your future. Show them – and Sacramento – that you want to be heard, too.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Turn out in droves.

Here are our recommendations:

Proposition. 1A: This one will cost taxpayers $16billion because it would extend the temporary increase in the state income tax, vehicle taxes and sales tax for two years to 2013, while promising a rainy day fund that even proponents say would be squishy. No.

Proposition 1B. Concocted as a sop to teachers’ unions, the only reason to vote for it would be as a feel-good gesture in case 1A passes. It restores $9.3 billion to schools only if Prop. 1A passes. The schools probably would be entitled to a share of that even without 1B. No.

Proposition 1C would allow state government to borrow up to $5 billion against future Lottery revenues. However, billions in interest costs would make it more difficult to balance state budgets in the future. No.

Proposition 1D would take money away from health and human services for children to make it easier for politicians to cover their spending in other areas. No.

Proposition 1E asks voters to change their minds, this time on the so-called millionaire tax that funds care for the mentally ill. It would take about $460 million from a mental health fund – which hasn’t been fully utilized anyway – and use it for screening Medi-Cal patients under the age of 21. Maybe.

Proposition 1F would deny a pay increase to legislators and the governor in years when the state director of finance determines the state is going into deficit. Yes.